Böhm studied law but also studied music in Vienna with Eusebius Mandyczewski and Guido Adler. His debut at the Graz Opera House in 1917 was followed three years later by his appointment there as its first conductor. In 1921 he joined the Munich Opera. Böhm became musical director at Darmstadt in 1927, at Hamburg in 1931, and at Dresden in 1934. He made his London debut at Covent Garden in 1936. Böhm came under public criticism for taking the Dresden position because he had replaced Fritz Busch, who had been forced to resign by the Nazis; Böhm replaced Bruno Walter at Salzburg in 1938 under similar circumstances.

After conducting at Dresden until 1943, Böhm directed the State Opera in Vienna from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1954 to 1956. In 1957 he conducted Don Giovanni in his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. From the early 1960s he was perhaps the best-known interpreter of Wagner through his work at the Bayreuth Festivals. He recorded the complete symphonies of Mozart. Böhm’s recordings and performances elicited admirable qualities of warmth, subtlety, and lyricism.